1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a device driver processing method, a computer, and a processing system.
2. Description of the Related Art
Printers, scanners, and other types of devices are commonly used with a computer. Device drivers for controlling each type of device must be installed to use each device. The device driver is generally installed on the computer to which the device is connected. See, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Appl. Pub. JP-A-2002-251347.
Such device drivers are typically specific to the operating system of the computer on which the device driver is installed. The user must install the device driver that matches the computer operating system. However, in addition to being difficult and confusing for users that are not familiar with computers, installing software also requires knowing the type and version of the operating system in order to ensure that the matching device driver is installed. This can be a burden for the user. Replacing one computer with another computer also requires reinstalling the device driver on the new computer, which requires repeating the same troublesome installation process. The device manufacturer must also provide multiple versions of the same device driver in order to enable using their products on different computer systems.